MisesWiki:About

Mises Wiki is a web-based, free-content project dedicated to the advancement of the Austrian School of Economics and related thought. Its content is written collaboratively by volunteers, and anyone can add to and edit Mises Wiki articles.

Mises Wiki was established on November 5, 2010. As of today, there are 1,990 articles, 5,335 users, 2 active users in the last 30 days, 18 admins, and Template:NUMBEROFVIEWS views.

We encourage all users to contribute, remembering that the best contributions are verifiable against a published source and are written from an "Austrian" point of view. Encyclopedia-type contributions should not contain editor opinions, as such, nor original, unreviewed research. We also ask that contributors comply, insofar as is possible, with existing laws and regulations concerning copyright. However, no edit can permanently damage Mises Wiki, because mistakes can be easily reversed. Just click the "edit" link at the top of any editable page to begin.

Contents

Making the best use of Mises Wiki

Exploring Mises Wiki

Mises Wiki is currently in development—every day, new articles are created and changes are made. To find articles, use the search box on the left side of the screen, or click "Random Page" to find something new.

Using Mises Wiki as a research tool

Readers of Mises Wiki need to know that not all of its articles are of encyclopedic quality, and that many subjects are poorly represented. However, because changes and additions are easy to make, we are confident that our encyclopedia will grow into a valuable research tool for all students of the Austrian School of Economics and libertarianism in general.

The ideal Mises Wiki article clearly and concisely presents the Austro-libertarian perspective, contrasting it with opposing views, and being careful to provide verifiable information. Editorials should be placed in the essay namespace and source materials (interviews, etc.) should be placed in the miscellany namespace. There is also a namespace for argumentation and one for books.

Student assignments

On 14 March 2011, Jeffrey Tucker and Dick Clark had the following exchange about the benefits of student assignments to edit wikis:

Tucker: I look at the Mises Wiki right now and I'm thinking okay, this is something that's going to outlive me. You know, I mean, it's going to grow and grow. Another use for it that occurred to me was that professors can assign students to write entries, right? I mean, if you're a student, you could turn in a little paper, and whatever, and then it disappears. What are you going to do? I get student submissions all the time. People write, "I wrote this paper for my class. What can you do with it?" I look at it and I go, "Well, the problem is it's a paper for a class." I mean, that's what it's for. But if you're writing an encyclopedia entry, it requires just as much research, just as much thought, and probably even more discipline. And you're learning wikicode. And you're contributing something broader than just to yourself and your little physical classroom.Clark: And, well, and from the student's perspective, instead of, you know, this little one-off project that's going to go down the memory hole as soon as I get a grade on it, now I'm working on something that's gonna matter. People are gonna read, potentially, you know, hundreds or thousands of people are going to come across my article. And that gives me as a student, right, that would give me a much greater incentive to write a quality article, to do my best work, not just to do good enough. And, you know, it's funny you should bring this up, because —Tucker: You've got graders, too. You've got potentially thousands of graders out there.Clark: Exactly. Exactly right. You'll find out quick if it's not good quality.

About Mises Wiki

Mises Wiki is still in its developmental stages, and as such, it does not have firm rules. Its parent, the Mises Institute, remains its guiding force. Its Editorial Vice-President has said, "We don't want an encyclopedia only and we don't want just opinion pieces. We want [Mises Wiki] to be a guide to learning and studying; an archive of important and useful information; a documented assembly of important facts and figures and narratives; a valuable resource for discovery what is going on and what people think; most importantly, we don't want the scope limited." There is also hope that this wiki can eventually come to replace major sections of Mises.org itself.

Mises Wiki vs. Wikipedia

Unlike Wikipedia, Mises Wiki is focused on a particular subject area, and it does not attempt to adhere to a policy of neutrality. This gives Mises Wiki editors the freedom to develop articles related to Austro-libertarianism with others who share similar worldviews.

However, this does not mean that Mises Wiki is limited to topics typically considered to be part of the Austrian School of Economics or libertarianism in general. Instead, the content of any topic can be developed, so long as it furthers the goals of Mises Wiki.

While Mises Wiki is more focused than Wikipedia, and does not require neutrality, the ideas of the Austrian School and libertarianism are not uniform—in fact, among the members of both of these groups there is strong disagreement on many topics. Therefore, articles should use verifiable, reliable sources to compare and contrast the various views within the classical liberal tradition.

Furthermore, many readers may come from other political and economic backgrounds. To encourage them to learn more and ultimately accept Austro-libertarianism, Mises Wiki articles should be accessible to non-Austrians and should attempt to provide a bridge from their worldview—whether neo-conservative, Keynesian, Green, or anything else—to Austro-libertarian views.

Administration

Mises Wiki has 18 administrator accounts, all but one of which also is a "bureaucrat" account, meaning the user has power to assign user rights. They are: